Pro-independence groups yesterday condemned Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) statement last week urging president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to accept the “one China” principle, saying Wang’s remarks reflects Beijing’s goal of ultimate unification.
The groups issued a joint statement saying that although Tsai has repeatedly said that she would maintain the cross-strait “status quo” based on the Republic of China’s (ROC) constitutional and political institutions, China should not forget that Tsai’s call is contingent on Taiwan’s democracy and public opinion being respected.
The Taiwan Society said that the results of the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections show that Taiwanese have firmly chosen the Democratic Progressive Party — whose platform includes “Taiwanese independence” — to take over both executive and legislative powers.
“It is clear that Taiwanese are supportive of the idea of establishing Taiwan as an independent country. The non-governmental forces pushing for a new Taiwanese constitution are strong and getting stronger,” it said.
However, the group lauded Wang’s remarks, made at a Center for Strategic and International Studies forum in Washington on Thursday last week, referring to the ROC Constitution as “their constitution,” saying it means China acknowledges that Taiwan has “its own constitution.”
Beijing should respect popular opinion in Taiwan, recognize that Taiwan and China are two countries on opposite sides of the Taiwan Strait and let go of hostilities, it said.
In China, Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) said people should not misread the core message behind Wang’s statements about Taiwan’s constitution.
“We hope the public will not misread Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s remarks. The point I want to stress is that our policy has not changed,” Zhang said.
When asked about the impact of Tsai’s election as president on cross-strait relations, Wang said he hoped that Tsai “will pursue peaceful development of cross-strait relations and that she will accept the provision in Taiwan’s own Constitution that the mainland and Taiwan belong to one, the same China.”
Speaking at the National Museum of China while attending a ceremony marking the return of a severed Buddhist head to China, Zhang said China’s policy toward Taiwan has been “consistent, unequivocal, and well-known to all,” and the core message in Wang’s remarks is that “both sides belong to one China.”
Zhang said he had noticed that some media played up Wang’s omission of the so-called “1992 consensus,” but he said Chinese leaders, senior officials and academics all mention “the 1992 consensus” when referring to cross-strait relations.
That is because it has been the path to ensure the peaceful development of cross-strait relations since 2008 and the basis on which many fruitful results were built, he said.
Not having this foundation will have a tremendous impact on the cross-strait “status quo” and peaceful development of cross-strait relations, Zhang said.
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